The System Interface buzzed.
> [You have spent over 5,000 Loot Points in one session.]
[System Milestone Triggered – Realm Infrastructure Upgrade Available!]
Zephyr blinked. "Already?"
He hadn't realized how fast he was spending loot—buying skill chips, spawning units, and upgrading his core node. But now, something grand was unfolding.
> [Choose Your Dominion's New Core Structure:]
1. Obsidian Sky Citadel – Grants aerial supremacy and god-tier shields
2. Mana Eternum Reactor – Unlimited power source, +200% spell efficiency
3. Fortress of Broken Code – Experimental | Warning: Stability Undefined
"Option three," Zephyr said without hesitation.
Even the System paused. Then:
> [Acknowledged: Constructing 'Fortress of Broken Code'...]
[Glitch Layer Enabled – Overriding Terrain Stability Protocols...]
A boom echoed across his Dominion Zone.
The ground fractured. Not destroyed—rewritten. Segments of the landscape turned translucent, showing layers of code and nullspace. Reality contorted like a corrupted game file. Towers emerged, pixel by pixel, then twisted and reassembled themselves with eerie digital groans.
In under a minute, the center of his territory was consumed by the black-and-neon mass: an impossible cathedral-fortress, half holy, half virus. Its spires were endless loops. Its gates glitched in and out of geometry.
> [Fortress of Broken Code – Established]
— Passive: Realm cannot be invaded by unauthorized entities.
— Daily Effect: Spawns a Random Legendary Unit or Structure.
— Special: Immune to all System Reset, Deletion, or Override Protocols.
— Bonus: Access to Glitched Data Fragments and Meta-Layers Enabled.
A surge of power raced through the ground. The skies above flickered with binary auroras.
Then came the new entity.
> [Summoning Result – Legendary Tier (First-Day Bonus)]
[Reality Anchor Golem – Level 75 – Legendary Construct Class]
The creature rose from the fortress's base—a monolithic humanoid made of obsidian plates stitched with glowing blue circuits. Its eyes burned with admin-tier protocols. It stood silently at the edge of the realm, acting as a walking firewall against everything not authorized by the Glitched System.
Zephyr's screen flickered again.
> [New Feature Unlocked – Reality Layering Gate: Fragmented World Cluster Access]
[First Destination: Origin Protocol Shard Alpha – Difficulty: Divine+]
[Mission Type: Hidden]
Zephyr couldn't help but grin. "Divine-tier threat already? Just means better loot."
Xuan Wu, now dressed in divine regalia after being upgraded through a God-Rank Skill Chip, floated beside him. "You sure about this, Master Zephyr? That last layer nearly corrupted my consciousness."
Zephyr snapped his fingers. "I've got infinite MP and glitch immunity. What could possibly go wrong?"
Xuan Wu opened his mouth to answer—then shut it. The gate pulsed open, sucking in light like a black hole with a loading bar.
> [Initializing Trans-Realm Jump...]
Zephyr stepped into the vortex, cape fluttering, surrounded by his summoned elite units.
The screen cracked once again.
> [WARNING: UNAUTHORIZED ACCESS TO META-LAYER DETECTED]
[Deploying Error Management Protocols...]
[...FAILED]
He was no longer just a lord.
He was becoming something the system couldn't calculate.